Dehydrator meal idea's

“"Has anyone ever tried making any granola or trail mix using "Kashi" cereal?......."

No, I haven't but my wife eats tis every morning, and I have to admit that I have fallen for her "Kashi and yogurt" combo. Very nice!

Kashi would work real nice as a nice trail snack, as would Kellogs *Smart Start*. That stuff is good as well.

You could possibly fore go a hot breakfast and use these viddles to compensate.”

“What does a dehydrator cost?”

“I can't even remember what I paid for mine, but I think it was less than $50.”

“laqtis--

the only thing I caution about the kashi (for those who don't eat much fiber) is that if you don't chew it up very thoroughly, it might give you a lot of gas....

that's another thought-- Smart Start is yummy too! (and my friend who is a Dr. told me that its only 1 of a couple of cereals with all of the vitamins & minerals.)

Would you recommend packing in yogurt? how long would it keep fresh? (obviously, it's already "sour") But you aren't saying to dehydrate it, are you?”

“Look around. REI was selling them for about $25 a couple of years ago when I got mine.

Freeze dried veggies go well with instant soups, as would dried chicken or beef. Use ground chicken or beef if you want to dehydrate it. If you're just going on an overnighter, the chicken or ground beef in a pouch works well.”

“you have been granted "slack" and are therefore forgiven for putting any backpacking gear away and into storage.”

“I just finished a great run of dried apricots. I bought 120 pounds of cots from an orchard, and got about 80 pounds in the drier, then when they could be condensed, got the other 60 pounds in. Some were in the form of fruit leather.

My dehydrator is a big one that I built. I used to be the QC and R&D manager of a food plant that dehydrated 100 tons of apples a day, at just one of their five plants, so I know about drying foods. My drier holds 10 trays, each tray being about 30" x 24". I have a spacer heater in it, with a 14" fan behind it blowing like crazy.”

“Thank thee, sir stickmon.”

“somebody said this above, but I'll confirm. I've had really good luck with spaghetting and chili (I was dehydrateing all my leftovers).

Found that I got best results when I added the boiling water to the ziplock (The quart size freezer bags work best) until the water level was just BELOW the top of the dry contents.

Put the ziplock in a bag cozy and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Help it along a little by shaking or "squishing around" the food. The bag cozy kept stuff so hot, I still had to let it sit for a bit before i could eat.”

“I don't understand the "Kashi - Go Lean" cereals. I am assuming this is supposed to be a dieting cereal, but it has more calories than the others in my cupboard. Why is it supposed to be better if it has more calories?”

“WOW Idaho Bob - thats an industrial, mega family size drier!

I like!”

“maybe the Kashi stuff has less carbs adn fat? i dunno, never heard of it.

is it any good? the taste i mean?”

“It is hard as rocks and only marginable palatable.”

“ok, no need to sample a box of THAT!”

“Pink - I don't think packing in yogert would be advisible in any times other than colder weather. I mentioned it because it's something my wife introduced to me here at home.

We do buy "Go Gert" which is just yogert in a long plastic tube for kids. That might be an interesting way to get it into the backcountry, but again only in colder months just in case.

That's the great thing about hiking in colder months, your menu choices jump 10 fold. Steaks, chicken, *bread on a stick* are all great options during those months. Of course, it depends on how much of a *backpack weight* person you are, but as I said on another thread, my pack weight is so low nowadays, that I can carry fresh steak and the wet bar into the backcountry and still be around 40 lbs. It's all about what level of comfort you want on the trail!”

“Fresh Steak & a Wet bar.... LOL!!! sounds like my type of camping......

The GoLean Kashi "Crunch" tastes far better than the regular GoLean cereal (the "sticks and flakes"). The Crunch cereal is kind of like "puffed wheat, but more substancial (with 7 grains). Lots of fiber and not much sugar.... a bit more like granola....

Thanks about the yogurt thoughts... Although, I thought that when making homemade yogurt, you leave milk on the counter on a small heating pad and add some yogurt to start it... I was wondering, because a lot of countries that are warmer (like the middle east, Greece, India) seem to use it quite a bit in their cooking.... Just a thought....”

“Very interesting! I never knew that about the warmer countries.

Maybe you can take yogurt out and not have a problem!

Cucumbers and yogert on the trail?

YUM!”

“Go Lean crunch has protein and loads of fiber. It has soy, wheat germ and other goodies. It tastes great, holds up well in milk and travels great. I take a bag of it just to munch on dry. I think I may do cereal and dry milk on my next trip, out of a zip-lock.

On another note, BITPUSHER, spend the thirty dollars on a digital kitchen scale. You will use it so much for backpacking! Not only for making meals but also weighing out clothes, gear, ect. Your pack weight will drop dramatically when you know how much stuff weighs. (I think we got ours at Meijers on sale for $19)”

“"I think I may do cereal and dry milk on my next trip, out of a zip-lock......"


I've done that sometimes and it's worth it.

I also have used some of the Mountian House Blueberries cereal.

YUM!”

“Sassafras-- that sounds like a good idea! Do you mix ut up before hand, or mix the milk and then add the cereal? (on the otherhand, the Golean Crunch is so crunchy, it might stand up to pre-mixing...”

“When I take cereal, I just put in about a third of a cup of powdered milk into the ziplock bag with the cereal: at camp, dump in some water, shake it up and eat.

With the Golean Crunch you may want it to soak for a day or two so you can chew the little healthy rocks they put in and call "fiber".

Nobody yet has said why it has more calories than regular cereals.”

“$30!

Do you know how much WHISKEY I can get with that? lol.....


I'll have to look at getting one, but damn, we're running out of kitchen space already as it is, and I want a decent food processor...”

“BS-- don't know.. how many calories do "regular cereals" have?

I do know that it's high in protein & fiber an very low in sodium. It has about 13 grams of sugars, but I'm not sure how that stacks up to other cereals...

maybe it has to do with it being a whole grain vs. ground cereal? i do know that I seem to burn many calories just chewing it... LOL”

“Maybe it is because it doesn't have sugar but it uses dehydrated "cane juice". What do you think sugar is? Maybe it just comes from beets and not cane. It also has honey.
It does not have much in the way of vitamins and minerals.

My guess is that the Golean stuff just has good marketing and an atractive package and name.

Compare it with something like Honey Bunchs of Oats. The only thing that is better for you is the fiber and protein (4g difference). It has more carbs and more sugar and more calories.”

“not quite a bottle if it's Knob Creek Whiskey...

More if you're just going for the buzz and not taste.. LOL”

“Got my kitchen scale for $3.00 at an estate sale.”

“I have dehydrated a lot of stuff.
I even dehydrated cooked pasta. It works like a charm. Just add an equal volume of water (warm is faster then cold) and let it rehydrate for about 20 minutes.

Cook your sauce (which is also rehydrated), drain the rehydrated pasta and pour about a cup of hot water on it to get it hot. Drain and add your sauce!

I have also done sausage and peppers, Pesto, vegtables, candied watermelon rind, citris fruits and much other stuff in the dehydrator,

SLiced apples, dipped in Pineaple juice, dredged with brown sugar and then dehydrated make a great desert!

Other thing that is real important is amking sure you seal the food AIR TIGHT). If you do that it will keep for a long time.

As far as the dehydrated chicken, Cut it into cubes, dehydrrate on HIGH and then seal it. Use it with rice or other dishes. Add warm water and let it rehydrate for 20 minutes or so.

The other secret? Never add dehydrated food directly to boing water or sauce. Put it in warm water and then bring to a boil.

My trail food cost me about 50 - $1.00 a meal.

You can dehydrater and rehydrate scrambled egs, but as someone said, it's easier to use the powdered eggs.”

“Each year this question pops up. I have 'somewhere' on this site, listed a set of recipes and books for dehydrating recipes and related information. If you can't find it here on a search, let me know. I'll see if I can pull it up.

Mark”

“time to bring this thread up after someone emailed me a question :)

now that i no longer eat meat, I need new ideas for meals on the trail. how about soups?”

“Hmmm. I've dehydrated salad. Not soup. My first thought is to dehydrate the veggies and then take along veggie soup base. Add water and boil.”

“Heya Maple....look at this website of mine:
http://www.freewebs.com/healthytrailfood/index.htm
In the Vegan, veg and LS sections there a number of soups :-)And salad recipes.
You can also make an easy soup by putting dried or freezedried veggies thru a blender, and combining them (1/4 cup or so) with some boullion (low sodium or regular), some crumbled ramen (no flavor packet) and boiling water..let steep in an insulated mug for 5 minutes or so and sip away.”

“i dehydrated a can of "princella yams in light syrup" the other day. i am dehydrating about anything edible i can find... experimentation.

i sliced the yams into chunks that were no more than 1/4" thick and they took a long time to totally dry out. they are really wet out of the can.

anyway, the end result i can highly recommend. they are slightly sweet (probably from being in the syrup so long but also they are naturally sweet) and a very nice flavor. quite chewy. yam jerky basically.

like i said, i recommend trying this if you like yams. i liked them so much i am doing another can today.

it's shocking. you start with a large can of yams and wind up with 1/2 of a sandwich-size zip-lock bag...”

“sarbar posted this on WB

Have a desire for mashed sweet potatoes on the trail with little prep? I had time this weekend and did up a batch.

My basic recipe I used was:
2 lbs yams (yams and sweet potatoes can be interchanged with no issues, yams tend to be moister)
1/4 cup maple syrup
ground black pepper

I steamed the yams, after peeling and cutting them. When done, I drained them then mashed them up with the maple syrup and added pepper to taste.

This made about 2 cups of mashed yams. I spread 1/2 cup portions out on prepared trays (lined in parchment paper), and smoothed them with a spatula till smooth. Dried at 135* for 8 hours or so. At about 5 hours in, I peeled them up and flipped them over. You get a nice piece of "veggie leather". When dry, and cooled, run thru a clean blender to get a powder.
Portion each serving into a quart freezer bag, and store in the freezer till hiking time.

When you go to make them, add in olive oil or butter as wanted. By not adding the butter at the start, you avoid any issues of the fat going rancid in storage. Start off with 1/4 cup boiling water, and add as needed till the potatoes reach the right texture.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...girl/Yams2.jpg”

“dead link ewker...

i have also read that shredding them prior to dehydrating is key. you MUST steam the to begin the process of breaking down the vegetable before doing this but apparently this produces a great product.

the difference here is that i didn't start with fresh potatoes... i used canned. i would think that sarbar's way would work well with canned since they are ready to be mashed up and dried into leather.

i love the yam bits i made... a power snack for the trail. i wasn't intending to eat them with a meal, although i can definitely see them as a real treat in this context.”

“it was just a picture of them spread out on the parchment paper”

“sarbar is like a food god... i get almost every food idea from her or prosecutor.”

“Poor Yam, since she got mashed, she just hasn't been the same.”

“dehydrated spaghetti sauce the other week. i hope it re-hydrates well. the yam "put in blender and grind to a powder" bit makes me think i might want to try this with the sauce... might make it reconstitute better.”

“Hey guys!

They were really, really good tasting! Now, sweet tater jerky? Methinks I need to go shopping!

One of my favorite items to dry is mushrooms. I use an egg slicer to cut, then recut the other way. They come out in perfect shreds. And get cooked while drying.”

“i love the smell of the dried mushrooms. very strong.

i threw the dehydrated spaghetti-fruit rollup thing into the blender and it chopped it into a nice "powder"... i didn't think to do this until i read the sweet potato thing, sarbar. i am always learning something new from you.

the miso soup was awesome as was the coffee. thanks also for that.”

“I have noticed that when I powder up the leathers, the sauces seem to come back to life very quickly. All they need is warm water, not even boiling. I do it with dried hummus, with cold water. Takes a minute or two but then is good eating!
I have added a bunch to this page:
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/gearstuff.htm

About halfway down you will see a lot more drying info and pictorials of items being dried.”

“does hummus dry well? doesn't it have a lot of olive oil in it?”

“Directions: Place 1 cup Your favorite Fantastic Food mix in bowl. Add 1-1/2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Stir until well blended (wire whisk works best). Let stand 5 minutes.


no need to dehydrate”

“Fantastic Food mix... hummus?”

“yes hummus

http://www.fantasticfoods.com/

great products...if you have a Wild Oats or another organic store near by they probably sell the Fantastic Foods products in bulk. I buy refried/spicy black beans, couscous and rice that way
last edited: 2/15/07 3:27:23 PM”

“i have a place that i am pretty sure would stock it. certainly worth a try.”

“The Fantastic Foods hummus mix is pretty decent. Better if you pack in the olive oil packets you can get from Minimus!
Why do I dry my own hummus though? It is a way to avoid heavy sodium. I buy organic canned garbanzo beans and run them thru my food processor with water and spices, then dry. I add the olive oil on the trail :-) For me it is worth it.”

“i am going to try this. i presume any recipe for hummus will work but i leave out the olive oil and add that later. never made hummus before...”

“Yep, if you like the recipe go for it! I eat hummus without oil often-it is an acquired taste but good. I make it sometimes with hot water and have it over instant rice. Good protein!”

“JS, here is a nice site for spices, pasta and misc items.

www.americanspice.com

btw I tried to call you last night..number was disconnected must be an old number”